What Baccarat Superstitions Are There?

Gambling superstitions are great fun for me to write about. The simple fact is I love writing about them because I know they hold no relevance to actual gambling, luck and fortune. I take great pleasure in finding out what some players believe will bring them good luck, whether it’s what colour of underwear they should wear when gambling, or what dealer/croupier they choose to play with. Being around the gambling industry for such a long time, I can promise you that nothing will ever change what number the next card will be, where the ball will land or how many jackpot symbols will appear on the screen.

However, superstitions add a lot of fun to gambling. As long as you don’t take your superstitions too seriously, they can add a bit of excitement and spice to your gambling session. And who are perhaps the most superstitious of all gamblers? The Chinese. Plus, what game do Chinese players like to play? Baccarat. So, it stands to reason that there are several superstitions involved in playing baccarat, especially at the high stakes tables.

It should also be noted that a lot of gambling superstitions tend to apply to live casino play, as opposed to online casino play. That’s not to say you shouldn’t wear your lucky shorts when you fire up the online casino software, or have your lucky charm by your side. So, if you’re trying out Bovada‘s fantastic baccarat software, you can still try out some superstitions, but there are some you just won’t be able to try.

The first baccarat superstition is the bending of cards. Players bend the cards when first dealt, but they don’t look at the value, they look for the number of suits printed on the edge of the card. This can give them an indication of what value the card might have. Higher ranked cards have three suits printed on the long edge, while having two on the short edge. Lower rank cards obviously differ, with fewer suits printed on the edge. This then leads to blowing on the cards for good luck, trying to get rid of the unwanted suits to give the desired card. So, if you know you’ve got card that could possibly be a good card, but could also break you, you blow on the card.

Both are absurd, since the cards won’t change, regardless of how you look at them or what you do to them. Plus, this only happens at higher stakes, where players can touch the cards. I know at my local casino, everything is automated, so the number of the card sometimes comes up before it’s actually dealt. I’ve tried blowing on the shoe, but it didn’t seem to have an effect.

Baccarat is also a game where pens are commonplace around the table. Players like to keep track of hands dealt, so often a casino will provide them with pens. This can then leads to scenes of players stabbing a pen through the middle of a card because it’s lucky, or simply because they got the card they wanted. Again, bad etiquette at low stakes, but at the high stakes table, well, it is more or less a prerequisite to do this.

Again with the pens, some players believe that tapping an ashtray or their drinks glass will bring them good luck. Of course, this is one you can try at home while you’re playing at Bovada. Just tap your glass or your ashtray with your pen before the next hand is dealt and the thinking is that you’ll win the next hand. If you do, I promise it’s nothing to do with tapping the glass or ashtray.

So, there you have it, there are specific baccarat superstitions out there. If you want to try them, try them with the other gambling superstitions out there and see if your luck will change, or more importantly, if you get any more enjoyment out of the game.